Scope and Limitations of this Publication (The Inner Way) (Tauler, John)

In this volume are contained the thirty-seven Sermons of John Tauler, which form the Third Part of the complete editions published at Frankfort in 1826 and at Prague (ed. Hamberger) in 1872. These are the Sermons for Festivals (de sanctis), while the First and Second Parts of the Hamberger edition contain the Sermons for the Christian Year (de tempore); the total number being 145.

Tauler was a Dominican friar of the fourteenth century, and he held the beliefs of his age and of his Church without any trace of reserve. The ardour of his Marian devotion is especially noticeable; and it would be as improper to omit this, as it would be to correct any other illustrations of his beliefs and practices. Also, to preserve the impression of a Catholic preacher addressing a Catholic congregation, I have given the English translation of the Scripture texts from the Douai version; since, though that did not exist in Tauler's day, it is a faithful translation from the Vulgate, which Tauler used in the pulpit, translating it into German for the benefit of his hearers.

The Sermons for the Christian Year were translated into French by M. Charles Sainte-Foi, and were published in Paris in 1855; but without the Sermons de sanctis. These are to be found, however, together with all else that is rightly or wrongly ascribed to Tauler, in the Latin paraphrase by Laurentius Surius, based on the Cologne German edition of 1543, and which was reprinted at least twelve times before the end of the seventeenth century, while it was also translated into Italian, French and Dutch.

Until the appearance of Hamberger's edition (Prague, 1872), the standard German edition of the Sermons was that published at Frankfurt, in 1826, without an editor's name. In the anonymous Introduction are indicated the MSS. sources on which the earlier standard German editions (Leipzig, 1498; Augsburg, 1508; Basle, 1521; Halberstadt, 1523; Cologne, 1543; Frankfurt, 1565; Amsterdam, 1588; Antwerp, 1593; and Hamburg, 1621) were based. The original Leipzig edition (1498) was printed from MSS. at Strasburg, said to be contemporary with Tauler, and to have been corrected by him. The eighty-four sermons in this edition may therefore be reckoned as authentic, with the exception of four, which are known to have been Eckhart's.

To the Basle edition of 1521 forty-two sermons were added, the editor, John Rymann, saying of them that "they have been more recently discovered and collected with great care and diligence. Although there may be a doubt about some of them, let not that offend you, for it is certain that they have been written by a right learned man of that age, and are all based on one foundation, namely, true self-surrender and the preparation of the spirit for God." Some of these are probably to be ascribed to Eckhart, Suso or Ruysbroek.

Something will be said below as to the sense in which alone Tauler can be described as "a Reformer before the Reformation"; but we should note that Luther's commendation of Tauler's sermons (to Spalatin in 1516,) was written when Luther was still Prior of Wittenberg, and before there was any breach with Rome.

Finally, to the Cologne edition of 1543 (the standard for all subsequent ones) Petrus Noviomagus, the editor, added twenty-five sermons more, which he had found chiefly in the library of St Gertrude's Convent in Cologne; and the authenticity of these is in a general way supported, both by internal evidence, and by the fact that Tauler frequently preached to the nuns at St Gertrude's.

THE Festal Sermons contained in this volume, eighteen are to be found in the original Leipzig edition, fifteen form part of the Basle supplement, and four are of those that were added to the Cologne edition. Miss Winkworth, selecting from the whole number of 145 sermons, took eleven from the original edition, eleven from the Basle supplement, and five from the Cologne supplement. Of the Festal Sermons she selected only three, her principle of selection being rather edification than authenticity.

But, on the general question of authenticity, it must be confessed that not one of the 145 sermons can claim such as it would have possessed had it been written by Tauler's own hand and been put forth by him as representing what he said or desired to say on the occasion. His sermons were always spoken; and the MSS. are at best only the reports of those who heard him; and such reports, it is hardly necessary to say, do not reproduce the sermons as they actually were delivered; though the way in which the sermons have thus come down to us explains the differences of reading in various editions and also the obscurity of certain passages.

A word must be said in explanation of the title, "The Inner Way," which the present volume bears. It is used merely by way of convenience, at the urgent request of the publishers. For myself, I had thought that "Tauler's Festal Sermons" would have amply sufficed to identify the contents of the volume for all those whom it is likely to interest; and that any additional title might even cause perplexity, especially to those who know that all the spiritual works, except the sermons, once attributed to Tauler, are now generally regarded as unauthentic. But it appears that, in book selling regarded as a business, the word "Sermons" bears a fatal significance, and must be avoided at any cost. Thus urged, I have selected a title which marks the general character of Tauler's teaching, and which will not, I trust, give rise to any misconception as to what the volume professes to be.